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Sara A. Dudley

Executive Director

As the Executive Director of Cyberderm, I absolutely love my job. I get to immerse myself in the world of beauty products and the R&D process in creating CyberDERM's formulas. I have an MBA in marketing and as you can imagine, I love to talk and share. This blog lets me story-tell about our product concepts and actives. We don't create fiction though. Our products were created by people with hearts full of integrity and vision. We really believe that our products help people and we hope to provide love and protection through every bottle.

Top Cosmetic Picks, Beauty Rituals and More

I’ve recently become obsessed with a blog out of New York (in addition to my routine addiction to all things Beauty Editor) called Cup of Jo. It’s rare that you come across a body of writing that seems aspirational and yet attainable. This blog is so good at encapsulating a feeling of coziness that I’ve taken to drinking a cup of tea while reading it before bed.

I only mention it now since one of my favourite sections is called Beauty Uniform where these impossibly amazing women share tidbits from their beauty regimens, design ethos and other little gems. Since I answer our customer service email (one of my favourite parts of the job is hearing directly from you all), I often share bits of my own beauty regimen. Clearly from our company name, we advocate for the use of sunscreen but we get loads of questions about skincare beyond sun care. With that in mind, I had the rather gauche idea of sharing my unsolicited beauty uniform. Gauche because no one asked- and it is a straight rip of of the Cup of Jo format so I encourage you to click through and read some of the real deals.

First some details about me…

If we’ve never met or this is your first time reading, I’m the Executive Director of CyberDERM and have been for the past 8 years. I currently live in Toronto with my amazing and loving husband and we just had our first child, our daughter Ava Isabella, almost a year ago. She is the absolute light of our life.

Current skin status

I’m still currently breastfeeding our daughter, which I only mention because it means that I’m still in a quasi peri-menauposal state. I’ve found that my skin is affected hormonally in that it’s more dry than usual. It’s quite reactive so I have to be gentle in terms of products that I use (and forgo Vitamin A based products while breastfeeding). I’m also still trying to clear left over pigmentation from pregnancy and post-pregnancy hormonal breakouts. It’s quite the mix of conditions but the upside is that I’ve really had to challenge my skincare to perform. It’s made me the best guinea pig for our current line of products and the ones in R&D.

Skincare Routine

You can take it for granted that I’m pretty religious about sunscreen application. I do test some formulas that are in R&D (we have some fabulous all mineral and hybrid ones in the works and maybe even some tinted ones to boot) but I otherwise use our Simply Zinc Sun Whip SPF 30 for every day use. Our H20 Hydration is one of my go-to favourites- I think it has some of the best ingredients that I’ve seen in any product. I love the ingredient Ectoins and think they are so beneficial for the skin that I made sure we included it in other future formulas. I also rotate in our PM Anti-Age since I love turmeric and its skin brightening capabilities. If you had told me when we created the formula 8 years ago that you would be able to go to your local cafe and order a shot of turmeric, I would have laughed! We definitely had some worries when we launched it that people would not like its characteristic smell. Fortunately, most people actually like its herbal notes or at least find it fades almost immediately after you apply it so aren’t bothered.

I also use two products that are not from our line and love them as a weekly ritual. Every Sunday, I have face mask Sunday (it’s a very original title) where I sit for 15 quiet minutes with my Innisfree fermented soy face mask. It’s a Korean brand that I gently cajoled my very sweet father in law to bring back for me from Hong Kong, although you can order them online. I also use Glam Glow Supercleanse Daily Clearing Cleanser once a week to help exfoliate. It’s a more heavy duty product than I originally gave it credit for with its blend of glycol and lactic acid. I can use our Exfoliant Reveal with its 8% glycolic acid without issue but the blend in the Glam Glow makes it that I can’t use more than once a week (but I still like it!).

Future obsessions

We get a lot of love for our current line of cosmeceuticals but one piece of consistent feedback has been to create a product/s that are more intensively hydrating, especially for mature skin. We’ve been labouring over a natural line of products for the past two years and they are just now getting to the point of being perfected. They are designed to be intensely hydrating. Our focus word for the line was ‘nourishment’, which can be overplayed to the point of losing meaning in a lot of cosmetic marketing. Essentially though if you could picture your perfect breakfast smoothie,what would it have in it? Certainly a handful of high quality ingredients would be better than a long list. They should be nutrient dense. They should be colourful since ‘eating the rainbow’ is the best way to guarantee you are getting a broad range of anti-oxidant protection. The end product should be appetizing or better yet delightful. With those criteria in mind, we’ve put together some products that I’ve been using for the past couple of months and loving. I was reminded of the story of when Coco Chanel created Chanel 5 and gave small bottles as little gifts to her clients in her atelier. I love the notion that these products are going to be sweet little ‘gifts’ to our customers and can’t wait for them to launch (but you will have to stay tuned to find out when).

Make-up picks

I’ve been using jane iredale as my foundation of choice for what feels like forever. I still love it for its natural looking finish and its ease of application. I am a bit more adventurous though when it comes to anything else. I do love Butter London colours- Abbey Rose is my natural looking pink nude for everyday and Macbeth is a beautiful coral. I’m also a little bit obsessed with Bite Beauty’s lipsticks as well. They are an amazing Canadian success story and I love all of their products, currently I have colours in Chai, Dragonfruit, Sweet Cream, and Verbena. I love any lipstick that is a bright magenta- it’s my version of a classic red. Otherwise, I also use Ilia’s highlighter, Benefit’s brow gel and Urban Decay’s black eyeliner in Zero.

I think when you have a great routine you stick with it- I wore the same products for my wedding make-up that I wear for every day.

Mom Hair

I’ve had to forgo blowdrying my hair since my daughter was born. I just don’t have time and the noise of the blowdryer currently scares her. I therefore wear my hair curly and have been trying to get my natural wave into some form of consistent submission. I’ll use Kevin Murphy’s purple shampoo Blond Angel for my caramel highlights to prevent brassiness. I use a little Bumble and Bumble Invisible hair oil

Me with Ava on a Holiday in the UK

after showering and Kevin Murphy’s mousse for volume. I’ll also use the John Masters apple cider vinegar rinse every two weeks or so just to help with build up. I wear my hair every day while drying in either a french braid or two pig tails to help my curls dry uniformly. Ava is a huge help as well as she loves to finger comb them afterwards, which leaves them a lovely frizzy mess but I wouldn’t give up the hair pulling or baby styling for anything.

Work Uniform

I work from home most days so as you can imagine it’s Casual Friday every day. I swear that I do change out of my pyjamas every day, except maybe on the worst, most sleep challenged ones. I mostly refuse to look like the cartoon doodle of a tired mom though so I do my best. For work out of the home or meetings, I’m all about the well tailored dress and a blazer if I have to. I say have to because when I was doing my MBA, I got the comment that you should always wear a blazer to be work appropriate. I’m a bit ambivalent about that but since I tend to look considerably younger than I am it can sometimes be helpful. Diane Von Furstenburg and Judith and Charles are my two favourites for simple, well fitting dresses. My husband also thinks it worthwhile to have a couple of pairs of beautiful shoes and some classic purses. He thinks they are like watches for men, although I think watches should be like watches for women too. Who doesn’t need a power watch! Although it’s a rookie mistake to not have it set to the right time.

So that’s it for me, I’d love to hear from you about what your ‘beauty uniform’ is and you should definitely click through to Cup of Jo and subscribe to her posts.